Dr. Henry and @bcndp believe the risk is low enough to move away from providing space (small class size) to social distance in & towards creating manageable clusters in the event of an outbreak.
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We’re still trying to social distance, but newer schools in #BCED provide the minimum space practicable so construction and maintenance costs are low. Classrooms simply won’t have space to keep students socially distant, especially given 100% attendance in high schools.
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Cases have been assessed as low enough that we can create quite large ‘bubbles’ (cohorts) of learners: 60 in elementary grades and 120 in high school. Hopefuly an outbreak is manageable if it happens. But this makes folks nervous... 🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞🤞
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Aside: #Kindergarten teachers have spent decades teaching kids how to share responsibly. This cohort will be an interesting study in what happens if you teach the opposite.
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Ok, learn outside. An opportunity. But also tricky. Some schools in #BCED had constraints on teaching outside. Eg: had to schedule where your class would be so distance from other classes was assured, needed to ensure classes don’t pass in hallways etc.
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Much of the core curriculum is tricky to do outside when its raining/snowing. Harder to hear class discussions outside, etc. Not impossible, but to date this has been done by pretty niche experts with a passion for the outdoors. A big shift that you'd normally do in steps.
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Masks are allowed and provided if you want one. They are not being encouraged by health authorities except on busses where cohorts mix. What I hear in the province’s message is “I guess if it makes you feel better, we’ll give you a mask, but the science isn’t on your side.”
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I'm hoping masks will be the norm in the schools for reasons beyond COVID prevention. For example, reducing sick days is going to be key in this system, given how they're now on a hair trigger (got the sniffles? Call in a TOC!).
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So, what does this look like for teachers? In essence, we re-invented school in March, again in June and we will re-invent again in September. For some that re-invention is smaller, for some larger. In (many/most/all?) cases it will be a *lot* of work to do well.
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#Teachers, like many helping professionals, are often stuck in a resource poor environment. This impacts our ability to bring the kinds of energy we need to sustain a classroom community and make school a great experience for all kids.
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So what are some examples of implementation challenges?
Prep teachers: Elementary schools usually have prep teachers that teach a subject area while the main teacher gets a chance to mark and plan (#bced gets ~100mins a week).
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Prep teachers: Elementary schools usually have prep teachers that teach a subject area while the main teacher gets a chance to mark and plan (#bced gets ~100mins a week).
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That prep teacher often teaches all students PE, music, French or another specialized area. That seems to need a redesign if we need to create cohorts.
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Same for learning support teachers. They help students in all classes. They are now a focal point for cross-pollination of the cohorts if that continues. If they don’t continue to work with all classes, how do students with needs get the help they need? Design challenge.
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From a student perspective, in high school: what about the scenario below? Maybe they can take it online. But this is one among many, many edge cases that districts have been left to figure out.
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Aside on repeat courses: For some, online might work. I’ve got a Master’s in why students fail. ‘Try it online’ would not be the advice I’d give only in certain narrow cases.
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In fairness, this solution may be better than options in a hybrid model where students were only at school half time.
But the thing that all these edge cases imply is that there is *a lot* of individual circumstances to address. Case management is a lot of work.
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But the thing that all these edge cases imply is that there is *a lot* of individual circumstances to address. Case management is a lot of work.
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At the classroom level, the cohort plan means a lot of shuffled schedules in high schools. Teachers asked to teach new/different courses as the schedule gets remade to work for cohorts. Starting up a new course is a lot of work too.
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It also has implications for #inclusion and learning. It's tough to see how you cohort without creating ability groups (eg: AP students all in one cohort for all classes, regular in another). So many permutations...
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Even if in Elementary, you need to redesign. I teach gr 4/5. That involves fractions. We have plastic fractions insets to work with. From wholes to twelfths, there are 78 plastic pieces.
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It’s not a trivial amount of time to sanitize those every time. So maybe I now need to redesign so students make their own materials. But doing this one detail well means planning time.
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On the surface, that seems totally manageable if you are a not a #teacher.
I've got ideas for how to do this. Might take a couple of hours of planning and a couple of hours to implement. Half a day. No big deal, right?
Do the math, though.
(Sorry - dad joke).
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I've got ideas for how to do this. Might take a couple of hours of planning and a couple of hours to implement. Half a day. No big deal, right?
Do the math, though.
(Sorry - dad joke).
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But let’s remember: this is just one part of one subject. I teach all the subjects. I have a lot of redesigning to do...
I’m paid for 43 weeks a year (summer is unpaid). Let’s say I work 50hrs a week straight including winter and spring break. 2150hrs. 38 of those have school in session. So, 1100 of those hours are instruction hours. 1000hrs left. I still have ~23hrs/wk. No problem, right?
Let’s say in the each of the ~7 subjects I teach, only one significant redesign needs to happen per week. That’s 28 hours a week of careful redesign. So, by cancelling winter and spring break, working 50hrs/wk and assuming a modest redesign, I’m at *negative* 5hrs per week.
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So I have negative 5hrs left to budget in a 50hr workweek while working the holidays. I’ve done no marking, reporting, parent communications. My students have received none of my time outside of class for help with friend issues, anxiety, math, special projects etc.
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One can argue my numbers, but the point is: even under the most generous estimates, this is a gargantuan and ongoing task. We’ll do our best, but it’s going to be rough.
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On top of that, we need to have a plan in place for immediate transfer to #remotelearning. I’m not sure how I have time to also make that plan in addition to the redesign of my program in class.
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Okay, there’s more, but let’s move on to what support has been offered to us.
There's ~2000 schools in #BCED (public & independent). There’s ~$46m in new funding. Or ~$23k per school.
That's roughly equal to adding a new staff member 2 days per week in each school.
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There's ~2000 schools in #BCED (public & independent). There’s ~$46m in new funding. Or ~$23k per school.
That's roughly equal to adding a new staff member 2 days per week in each school.
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There are ~550k students in public schools.
So we are saying COVID measures will cost us about $85 per student in 2020-2021. That’s earmarked for extra cleaning staff, PPE, and some inclusion support.
Source for my stats: vancouversun.com/news/local-new…
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So we are saying COVID measures will cost us about $85 per student in 2020-2021. That’s earmarked for extra cleaning staff, PPE, and some inclusion support.
Source for my stats: vancouversun.com/news/local-new…
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Thought experiment: If 100% of new money was allocated to #inclusion support for COVID for BC’s ~75,000 kids who need it (instead of the current plan) that’s $600 per learner.
In staff time, that would fund ~15hrs of extra staff time per kid needed due to COVID.
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In staff time, that would fund ~15hrs of extra staff time per kid needed due to COVID.
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Experiment 2: Let’s allocate the $46m to give #teachers a small bonus for all that extra work. ~43,000 teachers, so each would get a ~$1,000 bonus – equivalent to ~20hrs of pay. There are 100s of hours of new work in this proposal.
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So, we can see that even if we agree in principle that this is the right plan, the @BCNDP's plan asks teachers, students and parents to bear the costs of the plan. You can decide for yourself if that’s reasonable.
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